Tweed production spikes because of bikes

The global success of the Tweed Run, a tweed-centric bike ride which started in London in 2009, is one of the reasons for the revival in fortunes for the cloth woven on the Western Isles.

The Harris Tweed Industry Forum said 2012 has been the "best year" for production in almost 15 years, reports the BBC.

Total production is expected to hit more than a million metres of cloth by the end of the year. In the 1960s, production ran to about seven million metres of cloth but had dropped to just 500,000m in 2009.

Ian Angus Mackenzie, chief executive of Harris Tweed Hebrides, said: "We are confident that we currently have the right balance in terms of number of weavers, weaver capacity and market demand.

"We are looking to continue to grow the value and diversity of the international market for the cloth, and this incremental growth will be supported by existing weavers and new entrants due to natural turnover within the workforce."

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